We are here at Kolkata for Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five, India qualifiers, where 18 finalists from around the country qualifiers will compete for a trip to Brazil where the world finals will be held.

More than 3000 teams from around the country took part in this tournament and final 18 teams are here for the India finals, watch this space for live score updates.

Red Bull Neymar Jr’s Five is largest five-a-side football tournament in the world. In 2018 more than 1,25,000 players from 6 continents and more than 60 countries competed to outplay them all and become World Champions in the World Final at Instituto Projeto NeymarJr, Brazil, clearly making it the biggest five-a-side tournament globally. It offers a professional platform for global amateur football players.. India contributes to 20% of the overall participation.

The 2019 World Champions will win the experience of a lifetime, with the chance to play against Neymar Jr himself in Brazil and meeting him again in Paris.

League Stage:

Group A Game 1: Kalina Rangers A 2 – 0 The Veere FC

The opening game of India Qualifiers has started with Kalina Rangers registering a comfortable 2-0 win over The Veere FC.

Group B Game 1: Kalina Rangers B 1 – 0 SAC 7

In a highly physical game with end to end football, Kalina Rangers B finally managed to edge SAC 7 by a solitary goal margin

Group C Game 1: Gujarat Lions FC 1 – 0 Hyderabad Sporting FC

In the dying minutes of the game, Gujarat Lions managed to sneak out a well deserved win to snatch a win against Hyderabad Sporting FC

Group D Game 1: Friends United 1 – 0 Barca Boys

An early goal was enough for Friends United as Barca Boys failed to break a resolute defense of Friends United to lose the game by a solitary goal.

Group E Game 1: SAC United 5 – 0 Play Spaces A

A high scoring one sided game in which Shillong’s SAC united asserted their dominance right from the start to run away with the game.

So the first national finals game of today to go into 1 vs 1 game. After a goal less score till full time, Goa’s Boom Boom FC managed to tak:e a win after overcoming Underdogs via 1 vs 1.

Group A Game 2: The Veere FC 2 – 1 City Tigers

After a dominating start from city tigers, a two goals bursts from The Veere FC including an excellent counter-attack goal midway through the game jolted City Tigers momentum and they were left to chase the game for the rest of minutes. Despite a late goal from tigers, Veere FC ran away with the game and a win.

Group B Game 2: Team SAC 7 4 – 0 Soccer Lovers

A dominating display from the Assamese side to run away with the game by a 4-0 score with some delicate passing and smooth game flow being the highlight of the game.

Group C Game 2: Hyderabad Sporting FC 2 – 1 Africa 6 FC

In a topsy turvy game, Hyderabad took an early lead only to lose it very next minute by a silly error. However after some end to end football and some close finishes by both sides, Hyderabad finally sneaked in a winner in the dying minutes.

Group D Game 2: Barca Boys 4 – 0 Forza juve

A rout of game as Barca Boys completely dominated and blew away their opponent with their high press aggressive game play to take away a 4-0 win. A confusion around the box lead to the opening goal which turned out enough to disrupt the focus of Forza Juve side

Group E Game 2: Play Space 0 – 2 AMET FC

In a must win game, Play Space succumbed to another loss as they went down to AMET FC 0-2 to bow out of the tournament.

Group F Game 2: Underdogs 5 – 0 FC Espirito

After a close loss in the opening game, Underdogs bounced backed in style with a 5-0 rout of FC Espirito to keep their hopes of Knockout round qualification still on track

Group A Game 3: Kalina Rangers A 5 – 0 City Tigers

Kalina Rangers continue to live up to their favorites tag with another dominating performance as they thrashed city tigers 5-0 to top the table and qualify for the knock outs.

Group B Game 3: Kalina Rangers B 3 – 0 Soccer Lovers

The Pune representative of Kalina Rangers did not disappoint as they booked their place to knockouts with a comfortable 3-0 win over Soccer lovers

Group C Game 3: Gujarat Lions 5 – 0 Africa 6 FC

Gujarat Lions registered their second win in emphatic fashion with a 5-0 smashing of Africa 6 FC. Gujarat Lions topped the group C table with Hyderabad Sporting FC finishing second.

Group D Game 3: Friends United 1 – 1 Forza Juve (Friends United go through with a win in 1 vs 1)

After both the sides ended the full time with score tied 1-1, Friends united emerged on top in the 1 vs 1 encounter to go through to the knock out rounds

Game E Game 3: SAC United 0 – 2 AMET FC

Both teams came into the game with a comprehensive win over Play Space. In the final group fixture, AMET FC repeated their previous game performance to secure another 2-0 win this time around against SAC united to go through.

Group F Game 3: Boom Boom FC 5 – 0 FC Espirito

After a close win over Underdogs, Boom Boom FC produced a clinical performances to thrash FC Espirito 5-0 to qualify for the knock out rounds of the tournament.

While all 6 group leaders qualify for the next round, SAC United and Underdogs went through to the next round as best 2nd placed team

Quarterfinals:

Game 1: Kalina Rangers B 0 (0) – 0 (1) Underdogs

After a goalless encounter in normal time, a inspired performance from Underdogs produced the first big upset of the tournament knocking out one of the favorites of the tournament – Kalina Rangers B in 1 vs 1 tie breaker encounter. A heavily physical tiebreaker did not start well for Kalina Rangers after their elected player got injured midway though the tie and struggled on as Underdog’s Lorrain made expert use of the advantage to grab the winner.

Game 2: Kalina Rangers A 3 – 0 SAC United

Goals from Rayyan, Craig and Charnel in normal time ensured that Kalina Rangers A did not suffer the same fate as their Pune counterpart as they cruised to the semi-final round with a comfortable 3-0 win over SAC united.

Game 3: AMET FC 1 – 5 Friends United

A hat-trick from Sudarshan along with a goal a piece from Bibin and Shiva gave Friends United a dominating win to go through the last four round. For AMET FC Vyshakh scored the consolation lone goal.

Game 4: Boom Boom FC 5 – 0 Gujarat Lions

A brace from Devendra alongside his name sake Devendra Ped, Akeraj Martins, Valerian gave Goan side Boom Boom FC a comfortable 5-0 win over Gujarat Lions to become the fourth side to book their place in the last four.

Semi-Finals:

Kalina Rangers A 0 (1) – 0 (0) Friends United

In an intense semi finals, both sides showed great perseverance and fight for the final spot as the game trudged to 0-0 score line till the full time whistle leading to the 1 vs 1 tie breakers. In the tie breakers, Kalina Rangers finished on top to make it their third final in three years while Friends United’s amazing campaign came to a disheartened end.

Underdogs 0 (1) – 0 (0) Boom Boom FC

In the 2nd semi finals, Underdogs continued their amazing run with a tactical game play of taking the game deep in to tie breakers with another win against Goan side Boom Boom FC. After a goal less first half, Underdogs quickfire attack in tie breaker gave Boom Boom FC no chance as they proceeded to knockouts.

Final:

Underdogs 0 – 1 Kalina Rangers A

Kalina Rangers A snatched a late win to finally break their final jinx and book a trip to Brazil in their third attempt. Underdogs strategy of taking the game deep with long ball was finally figured out by Kalina Rangers whose continous attack through the game finally bore fruit with an all important goal for the win.

That’s it from us here, do visit our social media pages as we will soon upload best moments of today’s exceptional day.

A Footballing carnival hosted by the city of Kolkata often regarded as Mecca of Indian Football involved some exhilarating footballing action, live music, a familiar national footballer in presence and a…